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Breaking the Fallow Ground of Alaska

Updated: Jul 12, 2018

Reversal of the religious landscape of Alaska from 70% non-religious to 70% Christian.

Introduction


My name is Prince Nwankudu. I am the pastor of God’s Family Church in Anchorage Alaska and the visionary of Revive Alaska Outreach. I and a few other pastors here in Alaska have a burden for the reversal of the religious landscape of Alaska from 70% non-religious to 70% Christian. To accomplish this task at hand, we are fully persuaded that several like-minded Christians and churches should unite to seek God’s gracious intervention (2 Chronicles 7:14). This treatise is designed to highlight the spiritual state of Alaska, proffer some strategies and solicit your enlistment as a possible vessel God could use in this united front.


Spiritual Statistics of Anchorage and Alaska


A 2008 Pew Research survey found Alaskans less religious than other Americans.[1] The State of Alaska has a total population of approximately 739,795 people (2017 U.S. census estimate). About 298,192 of these live in its largest city Anchorage. A demographic expert and three-time author, Bert Sperling reports that only 36.17% of the people in Anchorage, Alaska are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. Out of this, 8.86% are Catholic; 4.94% are LDS; 9.15% are all other churches; 0.17% in Anchorage, Alaska are Jewish; 1.50% are an eastern faith; 0.33% affiliates with Islam.”[2]/[3] This data means that out of the 298,192-people living in Anchorage 190,336 are atheists, agnostics or just non-religious; and only about 45,623 are professing evangelical Christians. True Christians, therefore are about 15,000 (5%). In missionary and evangelism terms the statistics translate to Anchorage Alaska being the least evangelized city in America. The map below depicts the spiritual darkness over the state of Alaska.


Luke 1:79

In his book God is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America, Frank Newport also observes that Alaska is one of the least religious states in America. About two out of three residents of Alaska, Newport asserts, “moved to Alaska specifically to get away from normality, conformity and the structures of “lower 48.” Loners, eccentrics (misanthropes of all types chose Alaska specifically because it offered the promise of an out-of-the-way, isolated existence.) Alaska’s culture includes a lot of things, but religion is not one of them.”[4] This observation is important because the children born to those who moved to Alaska end up being non-religious.


Geographically, Alaska is a three-nation and two-continent boundary. The seven tallest mountains in the United States towering higher than 14,000 feet are all contained within Alaska. In fact, the highest point in the continental United States, Mount Whitney in California, is exceeded in height by 16 Alaskan mountains. Alaska also hosts a confluence of two bodies of water with different density, off the shores of the Gulf of Alaska, making it difficult to mix.[5]


Traditionally, it is also notable that for thousands of years, native Alaskans practiced shamanism and raised ancient altars to various demons. Therefore, some ancient strongholds and altars are holding the native Alaskans and the land bound in spiritual darkness. All these make Alaska an ancient celestial as well as a terrestrial stronghold. Consequently, Alaska ranks among the highest in the nation for suicide, alcoholism, and incest. According to the results of the Alaska Victimization Survey conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center in 2015, “Three out of every ten adult women in the Municipality of Anchorage have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime; and four out of every ten have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.”[6] The Alaska rape rate is, therefore, 2.5 times the national average[7] and child sexual assault six times the national average.[8] Alaska also has the highest unemployment rate in the nation[9] at 7.3% against U.S. average of 4.1%.[10]


Spiritual Warfare and Prophetic Action


It will take the power of God working through a united front of a combination of churches, concerted spiritual warfare, sustained corporate intercession, persuasive preaching of the word of God, rightly dividing the word of truth and compassionate servant leadership for these ancient strongholds to be broken and for the inhabitants of the land to be set free. “Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Matthew 12:29). “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils” (Luke 11:21-22). The reversal of the religious landscape of Alaska from 70% non-religious to 70% Christian must involve a united prophetic action, corporate intercession and spiritual warfare. Missionaries who have labored in the Yukon territory and the villages of Alaska for decades attest to the intense opposition they face from demonic spiritual forces. We—the Church—have been given the authority of Jesus for such purposes and delegated to pull down all strongholds that oppose the gospel (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The strategy of the present call, to prophetic action, is to start with the city of Anchorage.


2 Kings 2:19-22 states:


Then the men of the city said to Elisha, "Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren." And he said, "Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, "Thus says the LORD: 'I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.' "So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.



Anchorage, Alaska is surely a pleasant city, but the “religious water” is bad, and the spiritual ground is fallow. The men of the city were objective in the assessment of their city and resolute in their commitment to a reversal. The prophetic action taken by Elisha involved a new bowl representing a new strategy filled with the power of God. He also went to the source of the water to deal with the problem. We have identified ancient spiritual strongholds as well as the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience as the “source of the water” to be prophetically healed for the city and state to be healed. Joshua 6 provides us a guideline on how to align with God’s will and strategy for winning a city for the good of all through a united front. No single church can win a city. It seems that God designed the evangelism of a city to be achieved through teamwork. In the Days of His Power the people shall be willing, their hearts shall be softened, and they will seek to know God. When the harvest comes, all churches will reap a hundred-fold.


Your Response


I solicit your participation in this divine commission just like Mordecai solicited Esther’s assistance on behalf of the Jews. Can we count on you for Alaska? "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned" (Matthew 4:16). Please partner with us today.


Prince Nwankudu’s Bio:


Prince Nwankudu is an apologist, missionary, pastor, mentor, and visionary extraordinaire with a passion for both practical/spiritual apologetics and a knack for philosophy, science, and religion bar none. Prince gave his life to Christ in 1978 and answered the call to ministry in 1988. Since then, he has planted a number of ministries, including God’s Family Missionary Movement, Pan-African Missionary Institute, God’s Family Bible College, All Nations Gospel Alliance, Global Prayer Team, Revive Alaska Outreach, Help One, Help Another Inc., God’s Family Church Alaska, Wisdom From Above Ministries and Wisdom Club University of Alaska, Anchorage. He will be launching a sister chapter of Wisdom Club in the Southern California area in the Fall of 2018. As a missionary who carries the Christian mandate to go out into all the world and make disciples for Christ, he has helped lay the foundation of the Christian faith for believers and nonbelievers alike. He also has a passion for effective strategic evangelism, unity in the body of Christ and true revival.


Prince holds a B.S. in Microbiology. An M.A. in Christian Apologetics and is currently pursuing a second M.A. in Science and Religion from Biola University, California. He is also enrolled as a pre-Ph.D. student at Southern Evangelical Seminary where he plans to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy of Religion. He has a big heart for the people of Alaska, to reach the lost, train the found, and send out the discipled. He is an ordained minister with Anchor Bay Evangelistic Association.




[4] Frank Newport, God is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America, (New York: Gallup Press, 2012), 162.




[7] Carey Restino, “Why is Alaska the rape capital of the US? Because we allow it.” Anchorage Daily News, https://www.adn.com/commentary/article/why-alaska-rape-capital-us-because-we-allow-it/2013/04/08/. Published April 7, 2013 and updated September 29, 2016. Accessed June 11, 2018.




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